It is believed the voltage completed its circuit by travelling from the faulty charger into the phone, into her body, then through her headphones into her laptop and then through the computer charger back into the wall.

People are urged to destroy and throw away any non-approved chargers to prevent further deaths

Meanwhile at Apple: Hey Jimmy you are going to have to go clean the executive boardroom today. It looks like goddamn Luray Caverns in there. I swear there is a splooge stalactite the size of my leg hanging off the ceiling

I don't think it was the charger. More likely the laptop shorted out and it went to ground- going from her hands, across her heart, to in-the-ear headphones, then down the wire and through the iPhone, then down the charging line and through the adapter and out the neutral.

mayIFark:I'm inclined to call BS on this one. Don't wanna to go to FailOnline from work, but reading the headline, I don't see how that is possible.

Oh, it's quite possible. I just dealt with a similarly poorly designed car phone charger. Those buggers come with inline fuses--but in this particular one, the internals broke in such a way that the thing shorted AROUND the fuse designed to prevent shorts. Shorts like that in a home charger will easily kill you, long before your main line fuses blow or breakers trip.

If the full current from the wall leaks from the power input of the transformer into the power line for an mp3 player or phone, and then the device is attached to you with a wired headphone...and you are touching a decent ground...it's cooking time.

Word to the wise--be wary of wearing your device or anything connected to it while it is charging on a 120V outlet---ESPECIALLY if you bought that adapter cheaply ANYWHERE.

FTA-" inadequate shielding causing 240 volts to 'arc' and pass from the charger through the phone into her body"

Yep. That's why I'm perfectly happy with the 120 volts that we use in the states. I've been hit with 120 a few times, and no big deal. Got zapped with 240 (220?) volts hooking up a dryer one time, and that went right to the bone.

It isn't so much the cheap chargers as it is the 240 volt general power in Australia. That's twice what we use in the states, and twice as likely to find a way into places it wasn't intended to go. Even here, in the good ol' USA, we oughta knock it down to 60 volts, but that would take a major society change. Our 240 volt supplies are reserved for heavy appliances, like dryers, and ovens, where the power draw can be huge.

Basily Gourt:FTA-" inadequate shielding causing 240 volts to 'arc' and pass from the charger through the phone into her body"

Yep. That's why I'm perfectly happy with the 120 volts that we use in the states. I've been hit with 120 a few times, and no big deal. Got zapped with 240 (220?) volts hooking up a dryer one time, and that went right to the bone.

Nope. It's the current (amperage) that will kill you. With a good enough path to ground, 120V is adequate to send your heart into ventricular fibrillation and kill you.

Basily Gourt:FTA-" inadequate shielding causing 240 volts to 'arc' and pass from the charger through the phone into her body"

Yep. That's why I'm perfectly happy with the 120 volts that we use in the states. I've been hit with 120 a few times, and no big deal. Got zapped with 240 (220?) volts hooking up a dryer one time, and that went right to the bone.

mayIFark:I'm inclined to call BS on this one. Don't wanna to go to FailOnline from work, but reading the headline, I don't see how that is possible.

The cheap chargers tend to be, well, more cheaply made, which often times results a less safe product. For example, the separation between the 240V side of the charger and the 5V side of the charger can be smaller, or the insulation in the transformer could be poorly made. A failure on either one of those would lead to energizing the 5V output with 240V wall current.

Think about it: if Apple's or Dell's charger killed someone, that would be associated with them forever. If the charger from Qui Gong Zhou Inc. kills someone, nobody cares. The brand name chargers have an extra incentive to go way above and beyond on electrical safety.

Fubini:Jimmy's getting angry: Nope. It's the current (amperage) that will kill you. With a good enough path to ground, 120V is adequate to send your heart into ventricular fibrillation and kill you.

You're right, but the higher voltage makes it easier for the electricity arc and/or travel through your body in new and interesting ways.

Yes the higher voltage will arc more easily, hence why we in North America went to 120V vs the european 240V...However, 120V is perfectly adequate to produce the measly 15ma required to kill you on a path through your heart.This is why the NEC/CEC has required ground fault interrupting devices (GFIs) for years now.Fun fact, as an electrician, we used to test for power by licking our fingers and grabbing the joint briefly. They don't teach apprentices that any more. ;)Don't do that on 347V (1 phase of 600V 3-phase systems) though. It will grab you and hold on.

That's why you should build up some resistance. Americans, and Philipinos apparently, never get shocked. In other countries where electric codes are not so ridiculous, children are constantly exposed to high voltage. Their bodies learn how to handle it and become somewhat immune to "deadly" shocks.